Transformers Prime, the series--episode one
by BBPRIMEFAN101
Summary: (my version of Darkness Rising, part 1) four humans encounter the Autobots and Decepticons


"**Darkness Rising" pt. 1—TFP**

* * *

**Summary: four human children encounter the Autobots.**

**Transformers © Hasbro**

**Lily and Kylie © Me**

* * *

"So there I am, on the look-out, when these high beams light up my rearview," said Cliffjumper as he drove down a dirt road past ranches and old trees. "And then it hits me: I'm illegally parked!"

"Another parking ticket?" Arcee said as she traveled down a different rode in her alt. mode with her holoform sitting in the seat, speaking in an unimpressed tone.

"Better. The Boot."

"Big, metal tire clamp impossible to remove."

"Bingo!" Cliff replied. "So the local police do their thing, and I let them get all the way down the black. That's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and BANG!"

"New York's finest soil themselves."

"You know me, Arcee. You mess with Cliffjumper..."

"And ya get the horns," Arcee finished and Cliffjumper laughed. "Not sure how that complies with Autobot rule number 1: Keep a low profile?"

"What can I say? Patrolling out here for Energon in Dullsville gets lonesome," Cliff sighed. "Almost makes me miss the Decepticons."

"Like Jasper, Nevada is a party?" Arcee said. "We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff."

Cliffjumper silently agreed with his friend. Then his trackers suddenly detect something. "I'm getting a signal."

"Need back-up?" Arcee asked.

"Do I ever need back-up?" Cliffjumper then floored the accelerator, speeding up as he followed the signal received, traveling off the road towards a deep, open cavern where several large blue shards stuck up out of the ground. "I just found a whole lot of Energon!"

Suddenly, he was engulfed by a shadow and heard a familiar sound coming from above. He transformed into his biped mode and glanced up to see a large warship. _The Nemesis, _Cliff thought. "Decepticons!"

The Decepticon warship hovered over him and the Energon. A blaster cannon dropped from the bottom deck of the ship and fired at Cliffjumper. The force of the blast sent the red Autobot flying, and he landed in the Energon deposit. Getting onto his knees and facing the ship, he watched a hatch open up from beneath the ship, and a dozen Decepticons landed at the top of the cavern.

"Arcee," Cliff said through the COM-link, "about that back-up..." After sending his warning to the femme Autobot, he slowly got to his feet and glared at the Cons above him. "Fair warning, boys: I'll put a few dings in ya." Then he transformed into his vehicle mode, drove up the side of the cavern, transformed back into his robot-mode, and landed as powerful of a blow as he could on the Cons below.

* * *

"Arcee to Optimus," rang the COM-link of a large, red and blue rig. "The Cons are back. Cliff might be neck-deep in scrap!"

"Understood," Optimus replied and connected with another COM-link signal. "Ratchet, do you have Cliffjumper's coordinates?"

"I'm locked on his signal, Optimus," a medic van said, driving down a snowy road, "but our team is scattered across time zones."

Optimus then contacted the blue motorcycle, a large, green vehicle, a yellow Camaro, and an invisible being. "Arcee. Bulkhead. Bumblebee. Lily. Rendezvous back at base and prepare to ground-bridge," he ordered, and the named Autobots do as their leader commanded and headed straight for headquarters.

* * *

Cliffjumper tossed one Decepticon into the open cavern and moved on to another, slamming his fist into its sides. Then one Con kicked him aside, and they all surrounded him, punching and kicking him back and forth. One blow to Cliffjumper's head caused one of his horns to snap loose. Cliff was thrown back into the open cavern among the heap of Energon. He bounced back onto his feet and watched the Cons enter the cavern and approach him.

"You want the horns?" he said, transforming his servos into blasters. "You got 'em!" He then fired at the oncoming Decepticons, who then began to fire back. He avoided their blasts easily, but didn't even think about the Energon, nor what happens when it's mixed with blaster fire. The Energon erupted and exploded, knocking Cliffjumper forward violently, annihilating any Cons in its wake. A large blue cloud rose up into the air as the remaining Vehicons dragged Cliffjumper out of the cavern and onto the warship.

Aboard the _Nemesis_, Starscream glared at the smoldering pit. "The Energon. It's worthless to me now," he sneered and growled angrily. He then heard the platform rise up and settle and watched two Cons enter with Cliffjumper, dragging him to where he stood at the controls.

"Scream...It's been a while," Cliff groaned as he coughed Energon. "So...where's your master?"

"Never mind him," Starscream glared. "I am my own master." He then drove his claws directly into Cliffjumper's chest, not flinching at the loud cry of pain the Autobot let out. "Any more questions?!" he asked, removing his claw.

Cliffjumper looked down at the wound, watching Energon pour from it as his vision went dark. He collapsed onto his knees then fell forward, slightly twitching before settling down, no longer moving. Starscream smirked and ordered the Decepticons to clean up the mess, and the warship fled the scene—just as a ground-bridge opened.

The first to appear was an emergency vehicle, or Team Prime's medic, Ratchet. Then the green vehicle drove through, transforming into his biped mode and aimed his blaster around. The blue motorcycle and the Camaro drove through and transformed next, then a small female Autobot hovering on her board. Then came the big rig, who transformed into the largest of the Autobots, landing in front of them and aimed his blaster.

They looked around to find the area completely empty and in ruin. "An untapped Energon deposit," Optimus Prime said, transforming his blaster back into a servo.

"What's left of it," Bulkhead stated, observing the burnt rocks and rubble.

"The first Decepticon activity in three years," Ratchet said.

"That we know of," Optimus reminded him and retracted his battle mask. "If they are scouting for Energon, then they may be planning for his return."

Arcee, Bumblebee and Lily hopped into the pit and searched for their missing ally. Lily gasped as something shiny caught her eye. "Father!" she exclaimed and ran over to pick it up. Racing back to him, she revealed one of Cliffjumper's horns.

"No..." Arcee gasped as she took the horn into her own hands.

"Ratchet," said Optimus, "can you track his position?"

Ratchet opened a tracker on his arm to reveal seven dots; one red, the others yellow. A long beep was heard as the red dot faded away. "No...Cliffjumper's life signal...just went offline..."

* * *

Back aboard the _Nemesis_, the black-visor faced Decepticon, Soundwave, approached Starscream in the main hangar. "Soundwave," said Starscream, "what is it?"

Soundwave then replayed a recording: _"Like Jasper, Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff."_

Starscream chuckled. "Ahh...the one called Arcee," he said slyly as he faced the silent Decepticon. "Why slay just one Autobot...when we still have the advantage of surprise?"

* * *

Deep in the desert of Jasper, directly above Autobot headquarters, Team Prime stood on top of a large plateau, standing in a circle. "We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgment," Optimus said to his teammates. "As of today, only we six Autobots remain on this Earth. We owe it to ourselves, to the memory of Cybertron, to any Autobots in any galaxy seeking safe harmer, to humankind." Arcee stepped forward and laid down the single horn of her friend in the middle of the circle. "And," Optimus continued, "we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade to survive." Arcee then stood up and headed off. "Arcee..."

"If Cliff's gone, standing around here sulking won't bring him back," Arcee said in a woeful, yet angry tone. "So, unless anyone minds, I think I'll get back to protecting humankind." Then she transformed and sped off.

"Optimus," said Ratchet, "helping humans will only result in more tragedy."

"Your opinion is noted," Prime replied. He then heard a faint moan coming from beside him and glanced down at the Autobot child. "What is it, Lily?"

"Huh?" she looked up. "Oh, nothing...it's just," Lily began, resting a hand on the plating of her right arm, "I know how she feels..."

* * *

"Welcome to K-O Drive In, where every patty is a knock-out," said a black-haired teen at the drive thru window of a restaurant in the middle of Jasper. "May I take your order?"

"Uh, two super combos, extra fries," replied the customer.

"Okay. Dos numero twos. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Some advice," said the customer in a mocking tone as the drive thru boy readied the meal. "How do I get an awesome job like yours?!" Then the customer and the other passengers laughed through the speaker.

The boy glared as he packaged the food. "So that's two 'we're not as funny as we think' combos with a side of 'bit me'," he snapped back.

"Haha! What'd ya say?"

The boy growled to himself and gave the customer his price, telling him to come up to the window. Suddenly the passengers in the car grabbed the bags of food and sped off laughing. "Hey!" the boy yelled, then hit his fist on the windowsill in defeat. "You have to pay for that..."

Arcee drove along the road, activating her holoform, into the city of Jasper. She thought of her teammates suddenly; she didn't mean to suddenly bail. She just needed to clear her head. This was the second time she had been in this situation, and it didn't seem any better or worse than the first time. As he drove along, she realized she was being followed by two purple, identical cars. "Twins," she said. She needed cover, so she pulled into the parking lot of the K-O restaurant. Using her mirrors, she watched the twin Vehicons drive by without noticing her. "Take five, Sadie," she said as she deactivated her holoform and shut off her engine.

That's when the boy from the drive thru stepped out as his phone rang. "Hey mom, I just got off," he spoke into his phone. "No, I'm not going to the dance. Experience suggests I should never cut a rug—unless it's stolen carpet...Be careful? Seriously? This is Jasper..." Then the boy eyed the fancy blue motorcycle he didn't notice as he walked out the door. "I love you," he said dreamily, then forgot he was still on the phone. "U-Uh, yeah I love you, too, Mom. I gotta run." He then hung up and approached the motorcycle. "Hello, beautiful Where have you been all my life?" he said, admiring the cycle's sleek design. "Nice!" He decided to take a seat to get a feel of the motorcycle, and it felt pretty good. "It may take a few K-O paychecks, but I am going to own a ride like you someday."

"Are you talking to your motorcycle?" the boy looked up to see two girl there, who started laughing and giggling at him.

"My motorcycle? N-No, uh...I-I mean, yes, it's mine!" the boy stammered. "But I'm not talking to...to you, I-I am." _Lame, _he thought. "How's things, uh, Sierra? Take you for a spin sometime?"

"Come on, smooth operator, wrap it up," Arcee whispered as she eyed the two Vehicons in her rearview.

"You know my name?" asked the girl with the ponytail.

"We're in homeroom together," the boy told her. "I'm Jack. Jack Darby?"

Suddenly, two pairs of headlights blinded the three teenagers. They looked to see two identical, purple cars, their engines revving threateningly. "Scrap," Arcee muttered. The Vehicons sped towards them; the girls fled instantly, and the motorcycle started up on its own.

"Hey!" shouted Jack as the motorcycle wheelied and took off—right towards the vehicles. He shouted in fear as the motorcycle drove right in between the cars and down the street. Jack constantly glanced over his shoulder and saw the two cars were following him.

"Do not let go," ordered the motorcycle.

"Who said that?!" exclaimed a freaked out Jack. The two vehicles sped up and appeared alongside him. The motorcycle hit the brakes and the two cars crashed into each other. Then Arcee sped past them and headed down an alleyway.

"Commander Starscream, target sighted. Accompanied by a human youth," said one of the Vehicons.

"Destroy them both!" Starscream ordered.

Once they had journeyed far enough down the alley, Arcee came to a slow stop and allowed Jack to hop off. "What...are you?!" he asked.

"I don't exist," Arcee replied in a serious tone. "Tell anyone about me, and I will hunt you down." She slowly rolled towards the boy until he took off down another alley. Once the boy was gone, she continued down the alley, the Vehicons following. Then she saw the two of them splitting up; one following her, the other going after the human. "Scrap!" She quickly sped around, drove over the hood of the Vehicon following her and went after the boy.

Jack raced down the alley, hoping for any chance of outrunning the car after him. However, those chances may be unlikely. "I don't even know her!" he shouted behind him. Arcee then drove over the second Vehicon and hurried to Jack's side.

"Hop on!" she said quickly, and as soon as jack sat down and gripped the handles, she took off.

The Vehicons followed them all the way onto the highway. Blasters suddenly appeared from their hoods and began to fire at them, paying no mind to the other cars around them. "Why are those guys shooting at us?!" Jack asked the talking motorcycle.

"There's no 'us', kid," Arcee stated as she passed other cars, "and they're no guys!"

As the Vehicons passed a turn-on, they didn't notice the Camaro driving onto the bridge. It rammed one Vehicon into the other, and something else forced them back. Then they caught up with Arcee and Jack. "Friend of yours?" Jack said.

"They're family," Arcee said.

Jack thought he misheard her. "_They?_"

"One of them you can't see."

Lily used her invisibility cloak so none of the humans could see her and hovered on her board beside Bumblebee as the Vehicons followed. "Bee, I'll go and cover 'Cee. You got this?" she asked. Bumblebee bleeped high-pitched tones in response. "Alright," Lily said and followed close behind Arcee, keeping silent so the human couldn't hear her.

Bee veered in front of the Vehicons to keep them from passing by. One Vehicon sped in front of the other, ramming the Camaro into the rails, causing him to spiral out of control. "Bumblebee," Lily exclaimed quietly and raced back over to her adopted brother.

* * *

Sitting against a concrete wall next to the highway, a young boy with spiked hair and glasses drove a remote-controlled car around, making engine revving noises, while a younger girl sat beside him with a computer and drawing tablet, focusing on the screen.

Suddenly, the boy's phone rang and he answered. "Hi, Mama," he said. "Racing. Right up the street...Yes, Kylie's with me, she's right next to me. Okay, just five more minutes?" He hung up the phone and continued racing the toy yellow car. The boy then glanced over at the little girl next to him. "You wanna try, Kyles?" he asked her, handing his remote-control to her. The girl in overalls just glanced at him out of the corner of her eye then focused once more on her artwork. "No? Okay...Whatcha drawing? Can I see?" The girl sat down her motion-sensing pen and turned the computer screen towards him. "A flower? That's really good. Almost life-like, but...why are the petals crinkled and torn?" Kylie ignored him and continued drawing. The boy sighed and continued controlling the car.

Out on the highway, Arcee and Jack continued to travel as quick as they could from the Vehicons—but they were reaching the end of the road. Jack whimpered thinking they'd go through it, but Arcee had other plans. She veered off the road, down a grassy slope and wheelied into the air, soaring over a concrete wall and landing in the middle of a large run-off—landing in front of the young boy and little girl.

The boy dropped his controller in shock while Kylie dropped her pen, their eyes wide and mouths ajar. "Whoa..." the boy exclaimed.

Jack panted as he stepped off the motorcycle, weary from the journey. "You have no idea."

The young boy and Kylie put their things into their backpacks and went over to him. The boy was about to ask him how he did such a trick when they heard revving noises coming from behind and above. They turned around to see the two Vehicons driving down the grassy slope, and in mid-air transformed into red-eyed robots with blasters for arms.

Stunned, the three human children suddenly heard metal shifting and looked behind them, no longer seeing a blue motorcycle, but a large, blue robot. "This ends here, Cons!" Arcee said angrily, then she took off towards the two Vehicons who began blasting at her. She avoided each shot, jumped into the air, kicked one back and then the other.

"W-What are they?" the boy with the spiked hair asked as he, little Kylie and Jack watched the fight from a safe distance.

"Talking cars that turn into robots," said Jack. "O-Or the other way around."

Arcee non-stop jabbed one Con in the stomach and swung her fists across its face, grunting and yelling angrily. "This! Is! For! Cliff!" she shouted. The Con however seemed unfazed by her attacks and drew its head towards her, staring her down. She started back flipping as it fired at her. One struck her dead-center in her chest and she slid back against the cement.

"Hey!"

The humans looked up to see a small, light-red robot and a Camaro leap over the edge. The Camaro transformed into a robot as well, and they both took on a Vehicon, ramming their fists into its body and kicking them back, giving Arcee time to get to her feet.

Lily and Bumblebee backed up from the fallen Cons and heard a loud _CRUNCH!_ The scout jumped and lifted his foot to reveal the crushed toy car. "Whoops," Lily winced as they looked to the humans, Bee bleeping to them apologetically. "Uh, he says we can fix that for you," Lily called to them.

"It's no problem," the youngest boy replied. "Really—" Lily and Bumblebee were suddenly blasted back, landing with heavy thuds against the concrete. The two Vehicons pinned them down and aimed their blasters at their heads.

Kylie gasped and looked around her, finding a rock near her feet. Using all her strength, she threw the rock at the Cons as the young boy shouted, "Leave them alone!" The Cons heard him, and felt the rock, and eerily turned towards them. The humans gasped and slowly began backing up. "Please?" the boy whimpered.

"Bad call. And good throw kid, but bad timing," Jack said. Then one Vehicon headed towards them while the other guarded Lily and Bumblebee.

"Oh, no," Lily gasped. "You three! Get out of here! Now!"

Following her orders, the three human children ran off as quick as they could, trying to avoid the Con chasing them. "Keep moving," Jack exclaimed as they crawled into a drain. The Vehicon reached to grab them but was suddenly pulled away.

The humans turned to see Bumblebee there, bleeping them to get somewhere safe. "Thank you," said the boy. Bee bleeped, giving his head a nod then went to join Lily and Arcee.

"Don't look back," Jack said as he ushered the boy and Kylie down the drain.

"What did we just see?"

"Don't know, and I'm not sure I wanna find out."

As before, while Lily took on one Con, Bumblebee took on another. Then, Lily was bashed backwards into Bee, causing him to lose focus, and they were both kicked forward by the Vehicons near Arcee. She went and helped them both to their feet and the three Autobots stood in fighting stances, ready for another go as the Cons approached them.

They all heard the sound of a car horn honking and turned to see the large green vehicle speeding towards them and transform, joining the Autobots in their stances, bashing his fists together. "Who's ready to rumble?" Bulkhead asked tauntingly.

The Vehicons glanced at each other; not only were they two against four, they were now outmatched. They made up their minds, transformed and sped off in the other direction.

Bumblebee whirred exhaustedly and hunched over. "Ya missed all the fun, bulkhead," Lily teased as the large, green bot picked her up.

"What took you?" Arcee asked.

"Traffic," Bulkhead replied.

* * *

Once the four arrived back at base, Arcee began explaining all that had happened. "And the Cons would've been scrap metal if I haven't been distracted by the human."

Optimus perked up. "Human?" Bumblebee bleeped, holding up three digits. "Three children."

"Two boys and one girl," Lily confirmed.

"I guess two more caught us in action? I don't know. Was a little busy at the time," Arcee said folding her arms over her chest plate.

"If the Decepticons are targeting us," Optimus said, "anyone perceived as our ally will be at grave risk."

* * *

The next day that afternoon, Jack walked out of school and noticed the young boy and little girl from yesterday. They waved at him as he approached them. "Raf, Kylie, hey," Jack said, waving back. "Look, let's just keep this between us and forget this ever happened, okay?"

They all heard a car horn and turned to where it came from. The boy named Raf gasped. "Jack," he exclaimed as the yellow Camaro drove up to the curb.

"Oh, not again," Jack moaned. Then the side door opened and Bumblebee whirred. "I-It wants us to get in?"

"No, just me and Kylie," said Raf.

"How do you know that?"

"It said so." Kylie nodded silently in agreement.

"What?!"

"Yours is over there," Raf and Kylie pointed to the blue motorcycle parked in front.

"Look, I really don't think that-"

"How's it going?" Raf asked the Camaro as he and Kylie climbed in.

"R-Raf?" Jack then saw the door close and watched the Camaro drive off. "Raf! Kylie, wait! Stop!" Jack groaned then eyed the motorcycle. He slightly glared, pretended it wasn't there and began to walk home.

Sitting on prick railing of the school steps, a girl with pink highlights in her hair was rather interested in the motorcycle and was sketching it in her journal. "Coolest...bike...ever," she exclaimed to herself when her phone rang. She pulled it out and saw a photo of a blonde woman and mustached man. "Host parents? Ignore," she said as she hung up and resumed her drawing. Yet when she looked up at the motorcycle, realized it was gone. Groaning, she suddenly saw the same bike out of the corner of her eye drive off. She hopped down and followed it.

Arcee followed Jack down an alley and stopped in front of him. "Relax, I just want to talk to you," she told him.

"Don't you mean you and your new friends?" Jack asked.

"Kid, there's a lot you don't understand."

"I get it. First rule about Robot-Fight-Club is you don't talk about Robot-Fight-Club." Jack then turned away and headed off in the other direction, but Arcee followed. "What you need to understand is that I don't want a bunch of crazy, talking vehicles following me around, trying to get me killed!"

Arcee then transformed and knelt down. "Look. Jack, is it? Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence."

"O-Optimus, who?" Jack said.

"You may be in danger, because you are one of the few, one of the only who have ever seen us."

"Dude, what are you waiting for?" They both looked over to the end of the alley to see the girl with pink highlights. "Go with!"

"...Scrap," Arcee groaned.

* * *

Arcee caught up with Bumblebee with both Jack and the new girl riding on her, driving down a dirt road that ran through the desert. The girl constantly whooped and squealed, annoying both Jack and Arcee. "and why exactly are we taking her?!" Jack asked over the wind.

"Rules," Arcee replied.

Bumblebee and Arcee headed toward the end of the T-section, but they kept driving forward towards a large plateau. Suddenly a slab of rock slid down and metal doors opened, and they drove down a secret tunnel, entering a large, octagonal space.

"Cool," Raf exclaimed as he glanced at one Autobot to another.

Kylie and Lily made eye contact with each other; while Kylie slightly became shy, Lily smiled warmly and winked at her.

"Whoa," Jack and the new girl said as they gawked at the giant robots around them. Arcee and Bumblebee then came to a stop, the humans hopped off and out, and they transformed.

"I thought there were three," said Ratchet.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply," said Arcee.

"I'm Raf. This is Kylie," Rafael introduced himself and the little girl who stood close beside him.

"I'm Miko," said the new girl as she raced towards Bulkhead. "Who are you?!"

"Bulkhead," the green mech replied.

Miko gasped. "Are you a car? I bet you're a truck. A monster struck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever used a wrecking ball for a punching bag?!" Bulkhead appeared overwhelmed by her questions.

"So, if you guys are robots, who made you?" Rafael asked.

Ratchet scoffed. "Puh-lease," he said and Lily giggled.

The four humans heard booming footsteps and turned to see the largest Autobot among the team. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron," Optimus explained. "Also known as Autobots."

Little Kylie had to tilt her head far back just to make eye-contact with Prime, causing her to fall back onto her behind. Lily laughed and helped her back up. "I know. He's a big'n, ain't he?" Kylie turned to her and slightly blushed with a faint smile.

Jack was the first to have the guts to approach Optimus Prime. "Why are you here?" he asked.

"To protect your planet, from the Decepticons," Optimus answered.

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night," Arcee clarified.

"Okay...why are they here?" Jack asked.

Optimus knelt down onto one knee to a comfortable height for the humans. "A fair question, Jack. In part, they are here because our planet is uninhabitable, ravaged my centuries of civil war."

"Why were you fighting a war?" asked Rafael.

"Foremost, for control over our world supply of Energon, the fuel and life-blood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce, and endured for centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one whom I considered a brother. But in war, ideals can be corrupted, and it was thus, that Megatron lost his way."

Miko sighed, unimpressed by Optimus's story. "Is there gonna be a quiz?" she jokingly asked while twirling her hair between her fingers. She earned an not-so-amused glare from Kylie but ignored it.

"So what does Megatron, or any of this, have to do with us?" Jack asked.

"Megatron has not been seen nor heard from in some time," Optimus replied. "But if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic." He then noticed little Kylie pointing at him. "What is it, little one?" he asked.

Kylie pointed to herself and then back at him. He still didn't quite understand. "She wants you to tell her your name," Lily translated the girl's actions, and Kylie nodded to confirm.

Optimus then understood and introduced himself. "My name is Optimus Prime...and I bid you four welcome to our base."

* * *

Soundwave approached Starscream, his visor detecting a pinging signal. Starscream studied the signal, listening closely. "Those transmissions are emanating from deep space," he said, facing the silent Decepticon. "I would hate to waste the Energon...unless you are absolutely certain."

Soundwave gave his helm a nod.

"Ahh. Then lock onto transmission coordinates, and activate the space bridge." A Decepticon at the controls did as Starscream ordered and powered up the space bridge.

A large, green and blue bright light filled the space within a ring of metal, swirling and whirring at a rapid speed. Not long after the space bridge had opened, a silver jet flew through it, and transformed into the Warlord himself.

"Decepticons!" Megatron exclaimed. "I have returned!"

**Part 2 coming soon...**


End file.
